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By contrast, only four million offences were formally reported to the police.

In the survey by Policy Exchange, 74 per cent of chief constables thought the public could do more in terms of reporting crime and disorder and 94 per cent thought the public could provide more intelligence.

Researchers say the figures for citizen’s arrests, which are based on a Freedom of Information request submitted to London’s Met, are particularly stark.

Between 2002 and 2011/12, the number of people intervening to hold a suspected criminal slumped by 87 per cent.

Report: A string of experts, including the previous Government's anti-social behaviour tsar Louise Casey, pictured, have previously warned that Britain is becoming a 'walk-on-by' nation

In the past two years – during which David Cameron’s Big Society was supposedly taking shape – the figure has halved, from 3,755 to 1,816 citizen’s arrests in London.

Policy Exchange, widely regarded as the Prime Minister’s favourite think-tank, calls for the police to make it easier to report crime.

It says that, by 2020, it should be possible for the public to report crimes by ‘text, emails and social media’.

The author, Edward Boyd, also wants Citizen Police Academies to be set up to train the public – using a mixture of police officers and voluntary groups with relevant expertise – on how to play their part in the fight against crime.

They would be taught everything from how to perform citizen’s arrests safely to how to avoid danger when walking home alone.

Mr Boyd said: ‘The police will always play the central role in the fight against crime, yet the public still has a part to play.

‘It’s quite understandable that most people feel reluctant to be a “have-a-go” hero and it is important that they have the confidence to intervene and know when it is appropriate.’

There have been a string of warnings by experts, including the previous government’s anti-social behaviour tsar Louise Casey, that Britain is in danger of becoming a ‘walk-on-by’ society.

In a report ordered by Downing Street, Miss Casey said people are terrified they will either be attacked themselves or face arrest.

She said the change in attitudes – blamed on a loss of trust in the police – could allow crime to ‘strangle whole neighbourhoods’.

But criminologists say one of the reasons for the fall in citizen’s arrests is a fear of being thrown in jail.

Paul Catlow, 25, was prosecuted for standing up to local teenagers in Sidcup, while George Lonsdale, 27, was locked up after a female mugger he caught in Burnley complained that she had been assaulted.